Concerts

ACS Spring Concert 2018

The music for this year’s spring concert was chosen for the challenging piano accompaniments and the compelling and dramatic storytelling:

The first half of the performance features Kevin Kaukl on the piano together with a string quartet composed of Julian Hallmark, Heidi Curatolo, Erin Gallagher, and Sarah Graf. They will be performing the Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44, by Robert Schumann.

The first choral piece is a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow entitled “The Wreck of the Hesperus.” The music was written by Paul Dankers. It is an epic tragedy about a ship that sailed and wrecked on a reef called “Norman’s Woe” off the coast of Massachusetts.

The second piece is entitled “Der Feuerreiter” by Hugo Wolf. It is the story of a raging fire and the demise of the man who warns of it. The music is strong and passionate and will get under your skin for sure!

The lyrics to our third piece, “Think On Me,” were written by Mary Queen of Scots, before she was beheaded by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth. The lyrics were set to music by James Mulholland and the music is exquisitely beautiful and empathic. Her life is an astonishing story of love and betrayal.

Our fourth and final piece is the finale from Leonard Bernstein’s Operetta, “Candide.” The story was written by Voltaire and was immediately banned. The operetta ends this sharply sarcastic tale with an astonishingly profound lesson for living life. The piece is entitled, “Make Our Garden Grow” and it is one of Bernstein’s best.

We hope that you will be able to join us for this epic music of “Catastrophes & Courage!”